Any tips lowering electrical bills

U

ukuoy

New member
With the cooler on almost every day, last month's electrical bill number shocked me :(. Any tips? ;)
 
Filter change is always the first thing asked (some people never change)

How's the insulation.  (How old is the house etc, a/c service and ask for what's inefficient)

A/c set to 80?

Close all doors when ac is on?

Garage too hot?  May need that insulation sticky thing, may help cool it. 
 
ukuoy said:
With the cooler on almost every day, last month's electrical bill number shocked me :(. Any tips? ;)
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Solar

Sce summer saving program

 
Don't turn on your AC every day?

Otherwise, solar will set you free.

(there's also a whole house fan if you live in a coolish area but not sure if that's been proven to cool your home enough)
 
In my understanding, your electricity bill is your electricity use + your charges based on your peak usage. A/C is at 76 in my house- that can't be compromised. LED bulbs all over the house, laundry sun down, etc to keep the load down. Better insulation is key.. but if it's a newer house, you should be OK.

Anyone know if it's true for Edison?

 
Went through this last summer (massive bills) versus this summer ($100-150 bills). Kept everything the same (Same house, same SCE discount program, same electronics, same second fridge, etc). All comes down to AC usage.
 
Ya, when it's 90deg outside and you won't turn your AC above 76deg inside, you're gonna have to pay to play.  All the other little things your doing won't save enough to compensate for your AC usage.
 
I find it interesting how all these affluent folks who can afford a house in irvine appear to have a hard time paying a 200-300 electricity bill for 3-4 months of the year.
 
AW said:
daedalus said:
AW said:
A/c set to 80?
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80?  Yikes.
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It'll definitely lower ac bill!
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AC bill, yes, but if I set my thermostat to 80 my heating bill would suck.  I normally keep it set between 73 and 75.

+1 for LED bulbs in high-usage fixtures.  Replacing a 60W bulb that's on even 6 hours a day saves me about $30/year, depending on which tier I fall in, and the light is much brighter/better than the 60W incandescent.  The recessed retrofits @ Costco cost less than 1/2 that amount.  Quite a few switches in my house operate 3 or more bulbs, so LEDs are saving me a lot. 
 
qwerty said:
I find it interesting how all these affluent folks who can afford a house in irvine appear to have a hard time paying a 200-300 electricity bill for 3-4 months of the year.
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Keep your ghetto lifestyle comments to yourself.

:) x 10
 
qwerty said:
I find it interesting how all these affluent folks who can afford a house in irvine appear to have a hard time paying a 200-300 electricity bill for 3-4 months of the year.
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how do you think they got rich? they're CHEAP!  I can say that because I am. My husband takes pride in how cheap he is :)
 
AW said:
2 zone dual thermostat can help too
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I got a quote to change my single zone into a dual.  It was around $2,600 meaning that if it saves me $50 per month in the 4 hottest months of the year, it will take over 10 years to recoup the cost...

If anyone actually went from a single zone to a dual zone I'd be interested to hear the actual savings.
 
I think getting a whole house fan is less than $1k and will probably save you more than $50 per month if it works right.

We usually have to run the AC at night even though it's cool outside because we can't don't want to open all the windows to let the cool air in as too many people will hear me singing karaoke.
 
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